Imperfections
by SquishyBijou
Summary: [discontinued]
1. Prologue: Jun

A/N: This is very, very rewritten. It's basically an entirely different story based on the same basic idea, except has a lot of the same content from the original and so I didn't delete and repost it is as something new. The original got too murky and my ideas weren't focused enough, so I had to cut and add to make it cohesive (and coherent). I'm going to be updating with the new/rebooted chapters for the rest of the night.

It's a Tyzula!Baby story, and is told in multiple third person limited perspectives, _excluding_ Azula. I intend to give absolutely no glimpse into Azula's real thoughts.

The pairing is Azula/Ty Lee. And a Jun/Mai/Zuko triangle.

It's going to likely be around 25-28 chapters, with the baby being born at around Chapter 12. I'm hoping to get at least halfway through by the end of February.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the rewrite!

* * *

**IMPERFECTIONS  
**

* * *

**Prologue – Jun**

After three weeks – the longest Jun has ever tracked someone – she finds Princess Azula.

The princess had a weird habit of just _vanishing_. It was just like the Avatar a few years back, which led Jun to believe there was something Spirit World-y going on. But she did not care about that, she cared about the reward Zuko promised, and the victory of catching her most elusive prey.

Azula is in an inn in the distant Fire Nation, and Jun has only just returned from a dry lead in the Earth Kingdom. Nyla caught Azula two days ago and the princess didn't pull a vanishing act for the longest period of time yet.

And there the princess is, cornered outside by the trash. She looks strange, but Jun never looked at her beyond the wanted posters. Maybe the smirk on her lips that is so _alive _instead of just a drawing. Azula looks at Jun, on her powerful mount in front of a weak young woman breathing heavily, as if she has _won_.

"I'm pregnant," says the princess and Jun has heard that before.

"Congratulations," she says sarcastically and with one sting to the upper arm, Azula slumps against the wall and slides, slides, slides to the ground.

She doesn't… even _try _to resist the venom. Jun hesitantly dismounts before shaking her head and going to the paralyzed girl. She taps handcuffs against her waist as she looks down.

That same smirk. Like she has won instead of lost.

"You gave in fast," Jun says, examining the handcuffs in her hands. This feels _off_. "I don't like your smirk, pretty princess. Are you actually knocked up?"

"Something like that." Azula purrs, her smirk fading.

"Whatever. I get my reward whether you're plotting something or not." Jun shrugs and binds her prey.


	2. Chapter One: Zuko

**Chapter One – Zuko **

* * *

When she arrived, he could only say, _congratulations_.

It just came out of his mouth; it was a habitual response to news he had heard before. But his head was spinning wildly with what was in front of him. His _sister _was in front of him. When she told him she needed a place to stay, there was not much he could do but agree. It was hurricane season and she was soaked from the rain, and he was not leaving her out there in… her current condition.

Right now, she is lying down on the nice futon by the fire with her eyes closed. Oh, but she is evidently listening. He _knows _that.

"You sent that girl to find me," Azula says groggily. Zuko feels chills at her _calm_.

"Yeah," he says, nodding.

"You did it pretty late." Azula cocks an eyebrow and he feels slightly more at ease.

"I know. She was MIA for a while. So were you, I guess. Are you comfortable enough?"

"I guess. You want to know about this baby, don't you?" Azula says and Zuko is nervous again. He tries not to reveal his anxiety, but he thinks she might be able to smell his fear.

Zuko manages to honestly admit, "I want to know if it's real. I mean, you _say _it is but…"

"Now, what reason would I have to lie about that?"

"To avoid execution."

Azula laughs at that suggestion and Zuko glares. He has every right to be suspicious, and he has been incredibly kind to loan her a futon instead of a prison cell.

"You know, I found out an hour before June tracked me down. I gave in because, well," and Azula's eyes get that disturbing _glint _that reminds Zuko she is not as she once was, "I always thought impossible was just a word for things I hadn't tried yet. I mastered lightning, conquered Ba Sing Se, slew the Avatar and thwarted an invasion by the age of fourteen. But I don't know if I can do this."

Zuko swallows. His mouth is dry and he doesn't know what to say. It isn't like her to be _open _like that. He fears being tricked, but he fears the repercussions of letting her slip between his fingers again much more.

"Well, you turned yourself in and that might count for something," Zuko suggests and Azula doesn't look like she cares much.

In fact, she looks ill and he thinks for a moment she has contracted something fatal and that is why she came home. Her eyes still look... wild. They used to be steely, calculated and cold. But now they burn and constantly watch the exits of the room.

But she says she's pregnant and he supposes believing her is acceptable for now.

Of course Azula is trying to play her tiles right and keep the upper hand. She knows that Zuko has always tried to reach out to her, always tried to break down her walls. They loved each other once, and when Zuko came home to the Fire Nation, despite the animosity sparked by their father, Zuko tried to be close to her again.

He knows her best bet would be to appeal to that side of him again. But he will not let her exploit him.

"Well, I was getting kind of tired of looking for you," Zuko responds, trying to make this situation less uncomfortable.

"You were always so bad at hide and seek. And, hopefully you'll see this honesty as a show of good faith; that time I told you that you were such a good hider, I really didn't even look for you. I just wanted to see how long it would take for you to give up," Azula remarks and her tone is slightly more purring, slightly more calm.

Azula is still Azula. Crazy or pregnant or whatever she is.

"I kind of figured." Zuko offers a hesitant smile.

Azula does not smile back, but he thinks it is still an improvement from last he saw her.

Mai pushes open the door and Azula tenses visibly. Zuko sincerely hopes that Mai knows to stop at the door until Azula is _out_ of here.

"I want to wash my hair," Azula says and Zuko figured that would be on her list. "Well, _I _don't want to do it. That's the point."

"You do understand I'm going to have to surround you with an armed guard and you're not allowed to leave the palace," Zuko says and Azula only nods.

"As long as you don't send me back to that asylum, I'll refrain from going on any bloody rampages," Azula says, bowing her head. It is mockery and not respect, but Zuko is in far too much shock to do anything about it.

"I'll keep that in mind." He tries to laugh, but doesn't.

Zuko stares at Mai as two guards in armor, with weapons, help a pregnant girl in a robe out of the room, while eyeing her fearfully.

He swallows and averts his gaze as she invites herself inside. They don't say anything. It's hard to say anything. The memories burn but they burn so good.

But you only know you've stopped loving someone when you're more in love with the memories in your mind than the person in front of you.

"I'll do it," Mai agrees, but she rolls her eyes as she speaks. Zuko has no idea what that means. "I'll analyze her or whatever, but I don't think we're going to have tea and tearfully reminisce anytime soon. I doubt she has good intentions, and I doubt she likes me very much anymore."

"Yeah." Zuko wishes he had more to say.

Mai sits down on the futon, away from the damp spot Azula left.

* * *

Azula expresses no desire at all to inform people that she is pregnant. Every time Zuko brings it up, she looks at him like he is the crazy one. He asked if it was because she was scared of losing it, but it is secured and certain that she is officially in her first trimester of something that scares the Fire Lord more than he would like to admit.

"Maybe I had some twisted longing. Stop asking me why I'm keeping my baby. It's not very polite," Azula snaps the fifth time Zuko asks if she wants to tell people.

"You have to tell people eventually," Mai sighs, studying Azula closely. Azula glares at her and Zuko feels a pang of regret. He should probably have thought about using Mai more carefully, but it is too late now.

"I don't want to," Azula says with all of the grace of a spurned toddler.

"Are you going to tell Ty Lee?" Mai asks and Azula purses her lips. Zuko narrows his eyes to watch how this plays out. It has been the first mention of Ty Lee in the three weeks that Azula has been home.

"It isn't like I harbor any romantic feelings about her," Azula says, laughing off the suggestion. But Zuko can see it in her eyes. She still thinks about Ty Lee. He still thinks about Mai.

"I didn't mean for you to demand she be your baby's mother or something. She's your friend. Our friend. Plus she will probably have the most positive reaction out of everyone," Zuko offers and Azula groans. "She loves babies."

"She _will _probably love it," Azula remarks with a sigh, studying her fingernails. She sighs and then looks pleadingly at her brother. Zuko manages to remain stony-faced. "I'll write her. Just her. She'll tell everyone she knows anyway. She can't keep a secret." Azula stands. She looks queasy again. "But I'm not her friend. I'm only here because I need your protection, not to cuddle."

Zuko feels, again, unnerbed by her openly admitting she needs protection. Most of all _his _protection.

As soon as she leaves the room, he asks of Mai, "Does she seem _weird _to you?"

"Yeah. She's acting nice. She seems kind of like she's trying to be friendly instead of striking fear into your heart to get what she wants. I don't want to stand up for her, but she's pregnant and alone. And she's been chewing her nails off regularly. Her repertoire of deception goes beyond cruelty and lies," Mai explains and Zuko does believe her.

Azula might just need him for the first time.

Or at least the first time she has admitted.

Zuko has to honor that, if he has any honor in him.


	3. Chapter Two: Mai & Ty Lee

**Chapter Two – Mai &amp; Ty Lee**

* * *

Ty Lee arrives at a speed Mai is startled by, given Ty Lee's constant excuses for not coming to visit, and all of the letters she never replied to. Mai stopped sending them a long, long time ago… she wonders what exactly Azula put in hers that made Ty Lee take the first ship she could get on.

Maybe blackmail. Mai will settle for blackmail; it seems more like Azula than the Azula who has been haunting the palace acting meek.

And, on top of being surprising punctual, Ty Lee is overly excited. She hugs Azula and Mai so tightly they cannot breathe, and she blathers about how she has put behind her everything that has come to pass between she and Azula. Ty Lee neglects mentioning anything; Azula being gone without a trace, the asylum, the Boiling Rock. And Azula is greatly relieved to have such a shallow person around who is not picking apart Azula's every motion and decision.

Azula has been dancing on thin ice for over a month now, and Mai has seen how it has been wearing on her. Mai is supposed to watch Azula's every move, and she would do it regardless of being asked by Zuko. Azula chews through pillows in her sleep and peels her lips to bloody bits. Mai knows that Azula knows Ty Lee is too trusting, forgiving and shallow to be dangerous to whatever game she is playing.

"I'm _so _happy to see you both!" Ty Lee cheers, hugging Azula again. She lingers because of the rush of heat, because Azula feels the same after all of this time. Breathing her in, it is easy to forget and to crave her again. But she knows it has been a long time, and the feelings must be dead by now. They _should _be dead by now. And when she does breathe her in, she smells different.

Ty Lee meets Azula's cautious gaze and feels a bit nervous. It isn't that threatening, but she looks so… _weird_. Weirder than ever before. Mai knows it is because Azula has always been afraid that Ty Lee is her weakness. Which makes it significantly more odd that Azula would demand Ty Lee's presence.

"We should have tea!" Ty Lee hesitates, seeming to be thinking for a moment. "Well, after I put my bags away, I guess!"

She is gone like a hummingbird-dragon and Mai does not know what to make of it.

You love that ass," Mai remarks, looking Azula up and down and finally resting her gaze on Azula's eyes.

"I was not _ogling _her, Mai," Azula snaps tenaciously and Mai holds up her hands in surrender. She completely was but Mai is not one to argue. "I'm just bracing myself."

"Bracing yourself by checking out her ass," Mai adds, because she thinks that _new Azula _won't fight back. She is right. New Azula doesn't. "Oh, come on. It's not like your feelings just magically died. You two have loved each other _forever_. You don't sometimes just think about what her lips taste like?"

"I hate you and I'm not answering that," Azula replies childishly and Mai simply shrugs, slowly shaking her head. They will be together by the end of the night and Mai is certain of it.

The tea is set up by a variety of servants. Mai is less than enthused, but she sips her tea and toys with a variety of snacks without eating them. Azula was vomiting for the past hour as Mai was forced to listen. It has destroyed her appetite. Ty Lee is pouring an inhuman amount of sugar into her white cup.

They have not changed that much, despite being twenty-one years old and everything that has come to pass between them.

"Do you have something you want to tell Ty Lee, Azula?" Mai inquires, raising an eyebrow. Ty Lee smiles and waits so pleasantly that Mai nearly takes her teacup and throws it across the room, imagining it colliding with Ty Lee's face. She wants to scream for Ty Lee to stop being so instantly forgiving, but Ty Lee has been hung up on Azula for too long to be that _angry_.

"Yes, I do," Azula says smoothly and Ty Lee smiles and touches her hand. Azula would have slapped that away and snarled something regal and frightening. But she does not and Mai studies her more closely.

Even before Azula raved and ranted and burned and smashed things and then sobbed in the fetal position, she liked to destroy people at every chance. But now Azula is very careful, very quiet, and clearly conniving for something.

Or maybe she is just trying to survive.

Mai hopes for the second one, because the first is a thought she does not like having.

Azula says in that same slippery but soft tone, "I'm pregnant."

Ty Lee cannot register it at first. But then, with a small breath, she realizes. "Oh, that's good."

Mai catches the small hint of _envy _in her eyes. The more rational part of her knows it is probably because Ty Lee wants to have a baby. But the other part of her thinks that Ty Lee is livid that Azula had sex with someone while she was still pining endlessly.

"So, is the father around?" Ty Lee asks bitterly and Azula's eyes glimmer with anger like they once did. That icy fire Mai and Ty Lee both notice but do not comment on.

Oh, Azula is still in there.

"I don't actually know who he is," Azula says, but Ty Lee is sure she is lying.

"So, how did you wind up back here?" Ty Lee asks, although she was informed the moment Azula was returned. Zuko told everyone, seeing as he had a bounty on her head that could purchase several nations. "How did you _both _wind up back here?"

"Zuko said he needed my help. I'm doing my job and nothing more. If you're implying Azula and I are still friends, you're kidding yourself," Mai says dryly and Ty Lee frowns for a moment.

She always was envious of Mai and Azula's relationship. And part of her had hoped they still violently loathed each other for what happened at the Boiling Rock. But when she sees that they do still hate each other, she wishes that they didn't.

She also wishes that she didn't feel the need to befriend Azula again. Ty Lee is just sitting here, feeling stupid in her street make-up that barely covers up the stains from her work make-up, looking at a cup of tea and realizing she is on the outskirts. Realizing that she had deep down, hoped Azula had simply vanished like she feared. And that makes her feel like a despicable person.

Ty Lee _longed _for Azula for _so many years_. And now she is angry that she got her wish. She hides it with bright smiles and superfluous compliments.

"Do you want to stay for a while?" Azula asks and Ty Lee cannot tell if it is a formality or a genuine invitation.

Azula feels strange to her. She smells different too. Everything about her is different. The way she behaves is... and her eyes look like a caged animal... and while her voice is beautiful and reminds Ty Lee or burning icicles, she sounds perpetually like she is trying to schmooze people. It feels like someone just snatched Azula and replaced the body of a goddess with a scared little girl who is trying to act like an adult.

"I'd like to. I can visit my family and, uh, catch up on things," Ty Lee says and Azula narrows her eyes and looks like herself for a moment. Analytical, cold. Ty Lee chews on her lip and puts more sugar in her tea.

Things are strange in the Fire Nation.


	4. Chapter Three: Zuko & Ty Lee

**Chapter Three – Zuko &amp; Ty Lee**

* * *

"Hey," Zuko says, realizing Ty Lee arrived two days ago and he has still not acknowledged her.

They never were close. He barely knows anything about her, but that is mostly because, despite how much she likes everything to revolve around her, she says very little about herself. In fact, she says very little that matters or interests Zuko.

"Hi," Ty Lee says in a painfully pitchy tone. She is intently studying a portrait, which leads Zuko to believe she is feeling very uncomfortable and likely wants to go home.

"How's being back in the Fire Nation? You know, I haven't seen you back here in five years. Even though your whole family is here," Zuko says, standing beside her to gaze at the portrait. It is of a Fire Lord Zuko cannot recall the name of; he must not have done much.

"I don't get along that well with my family. If that isn't obvious from my running away multiple times then moving across the ocean from them," Ty Lee replies lightly, still staring at the portrait. "Does Azula seem different to you?"

"Not really. Well, define different," Zuko says and Ty Lee hesitates. It takes a long time for her to respond and so Zuko says, "She's different from when we were kids, when we were teenagers and when she was kind of... raving? Raving is a good word for that. But she's still Azula. She still makes servants cry and likes to be scathing and... yeah."

"She looks scared, Zuko. I've never seen her so scared." Ty Lee suddenly does not sound ditzy and sweet; her voice is dark and close to hollow. Zuko feels his insides twisting.

"I've been trying to make her feel comfortable. I promised─"

"You know what? You can't just _redeem _her like she's some kind of charity case! She is this unstoppable force and now she's ─ she's ─ you can't force people to change! You can't erase her, Zuko!" Ty Lee shrieks before looking stunned at herself. Her fingers gently touch her lips as she frowns. "I'm sorry. I'm just feeling tense being back here. There's a reason I avoid the Fire Nation."

"You really think that?" says a voice that is not Zuko's as he opens his mouth to speak.

"Yeah," Ty Lee says as Azula makes herself fully visible. She moves through the light from down the hall, like something stepping into this world from another. But when she is in the dim lamps of this hallway, she looks frail and small. Small. Ty Lee has never seen Azula looks so small and it makes her so angry.

_It is three weeks before the Day of Black Sun and Ty Lee is in her pale pink underclothes with her cheeks flushed and Azula in a virulent rage._

_"You are in love with this idea of me," Azula snaps, leaning against the wall of her bedroom. "You don't know me. You know nothing about me."_

_Ty Lee can only swallow. She feels very exposed, half dressed. Azula just snapped as they were lying there peacefully. It makes Ty Lee feel kind of _used _and she doesn't know what to make of that. And Ty Lee had the nerve to ask if they had a future together, after the war. _

_"Azula, I love the real you," Ty Lee insists passionately._

_"You have no idea what the real me is. And you never will."_

_Ty Lee studies her feet. Azula twists her lip to stop it from trembling. No one will see her cry. Maybe that's why no one knows her._

"We left off on bad terms," Azula says, walking to stand beside her brother.

For the first time, he does not seem to fall in her shadow. And Ty Lee is revolted and scared. She does not know how to feel because she wanted Azula to be stopped and reeled in, but she did not want it to look like this. Or, at least, she did not want to have to look at it. Look at the fact that, while Azula isn't showing, Ty Lee can just _see it _inside of her growing.

"That's an understatement," Ty Lee says as Zuko fades into the walls.

"And I didn't ever treat you with any form of respect," Azula continues and Ty Lee wants to stop her. She knows that Azula is forcing the words because they are what people want to hear. She knows that even though Azula no longer looks and plays the part of a military mastermind, she still is pushing those around her like little stone pieces on a war table.

It just doesn't look like it anymore.

"I didn't treat me with respect either. We were teenagers and we're adults now. And I would be honored to be your baby's aunt," Ty Lee says and watches the old Azula flash. Her eyes sting Ty Lee the moment the acrobat discreetly makes it clear that the romance is over.

"I appreciate that," Azula says, and there is a dragon's voice beneath the pretty princess one she uses. Ty Lee notices it. Of course Ty Lee notices it. "How long are you staying?"

"Nine months," Ty Lee replies and Zuko looks aghast and Azula looks as shocked as she did at the Boiling Rock. "I'm not leaving until that baby is born. You're stuck with me for a while."

"Okay," Zuko says quietly, unsure how to decline. He knows he probably should tell her to not make this reckless decision, but he also knows that it is _her _decision in the end.

"Great. It's settled then," Ty Lee says, grinning with her wide eyes sparkling in the lamplight.

"How interesting," Azula breathes, and Ty Lee knows that if she weren't playing the part of the defeated princess, she would have just said something devastatingly cruel.

Ty Lee smiles at her.

Azula's lip twitches as she gives an openly forced one in response.


	5. Chapter Four: Ty Lee

**Chapter Four – Ty Lee**

* * *

Ty Lee walks into the library of the palace and finds Azula. She imagined she would be here and she was right; Ty Lee did not even need to try Azula's other haunts. The princess is wearing a camisole and a faded robe with a dragon pattern on it. Her hair is not brushed and she is flipping through scrolls with disinterest.

Likely hiding from Zuko and Mai. Zuko says she avoids him because he tries to make steps towards redeeming her, as she promised she would do in exchange for amnesty. It simply reminds Ty Lee of how entitled Azula is to want her amnesty but not feel the need to pay for it.

"Do you have any idea who the father of your baby is?" Ty Lee inquires, sitting down across from Azula. The princess sips her tea quietly, calmly, something burning inside of her that Ty Lee is afraid of. Her eyes are analytical. Ty Lee feels stripped naked in front of her.

"Yeah. I do," Azula admits and Ty Lee is startled. Her rotund eyes flicker in surprise with a slight sparkle that Azula almost missed. "Not entirely. I got what I wanted in a lot of ways and sleeping with people was one of them. It's effective."

"So it's just some guy's?" Ty Lee inquires and Azula picks at her nails. She is concealing something, but her story isn't an obvious lie.

"There was one guy I thought about marrying." And then Ty Lee feels deeply offended, because they had this hilarious notion of secretly getting hitched and no one would ever have to know, seeing as Ozai likely would not have allowed the wedding. "Just to fit in with people. Nobody would notice me at that point. Even in the Fire Nation where he was. His name was... unimportant."

"Unimportant? I'm not going to hunt him down and rip his heart out." Ty Lee smirks and Azula raises an eyebrow.

"I would tear the heart out of somebody who knocked you up and was going to marry you." Silence. Ty Lee was hoping Azula would not respond with something like that. The relationship has been over for a long, long time and Ty Lee knows that starting it again would be trouble.

"So, this guy...?" Ty Lee attempts to change the subject and Azula accepts the gesture.

"See, I wanted to marry him and live this lie, this life of some middle class Fire Nation girl named Iria. It would've been highly effective. I've lived a lot of lies and enjoyed it, but the thing is, I'm not some middle class Fire Nation girl named Iria. I'm Princess Azula. And even if I married him in some cheap Fire Sage temple on a dirt road and picked out what shade of red curtains I wanted and drank cheap liquor and made friends who I got tea with... I'd be Princess Azula. I can't live in that world easily. Iria from the Colonies was a little worker spider-wasp. Princess Azula, daughter of Fire Lord Ozai, is a killer spider-wasp."

Ty Lee is silent. Azula's speeches always do leave her speechless. Each word is so articulate, so well thought out. When Ty Lee last saw Azula, she was far less articulate and her words were nowhere near pretty. So much has changed.

To Ty Lee, she might as well be Iria from the Colonies in Azula's body.

"And it's his baby?" Ty Lee asks softly and Azula shrugs.

"Possibly. I had just left him when Jun tracked me down," Azula says and Ty Lee _knows _that it is a lie. Jun chased Azula for three weeks and said Azula vanished over and over again. That feels more significantly than getting cold feet. "That's why I surrendered so easily. At our wedding rehearsal, I realized I was Princess Azula, not Iria from the Colonies. And so I ran away. I don't fit in those spider-wasp hives. I just don't. The only place I'm ever going to be able to handle is this palace." She wrestles with her lips for a moment as Ty Lee watches her patiently, waiting for more words. "Even if it's run by my brother."

"So he wants to redeem you?" Ty Lee asks, not wanting to talk about the baby anymore. It enrages her for reasons she does not understand nor does she _want _to understand.

"He's been trying. It's kind of cute," Azula says with a killer smirk. "Maybe a tiger monkey can't change its stripes, even if it tries to bleach them away. No matter how much ZuZu tries. But I have to play along if I want to stay in the palace and not prison or an asylum."

"You've been doing better mentally?" Ty Lee asks before feeling ridiculous. She led into this asking who the father of Azula's bastard child was, and now she is questioning her about her mental health. She probably should have remarked on the weather or complimented Azula's camisole.

"No," Azula admits and Ty Lee feels disgruntled by her blunt tone. "Not at all. I still wake up screaming most nights. Sweaty. Flashbacks. The likes. But it does keep life interesting, after all. I mean, sanity is awfully boring."

Another smirk. Definitely not Iria from the Colonies. Certainly Azula.

And Azula proves herself to be Princess Azula even more when she asks, "So what is it you want from me? Why are you here for nine months when you're so happy on Kyoshi Island? Or are you convinced I'm faking my pregnancy and you want to expose me? Or, do you want to expose me in another way?"

"Don't hit on me," Ty Lee snaps and Azula's nostrils flare, her eyes flashing bright, deadly gold. "I don't need you to hit on me. I'm here because I have felt responsible for your breakdown for _years _and now I have a chance to try to make myself feel a bit better."

"So I'm just an object so you can ease your damned conscience?" Azula snarls, her calm, cold tone become fiery hot. She changed so quickly from a cold candle to an oil fire and Ty Lee sees her ex-girlfriend under the very odd ghost.

"Yes," Ty Lee bites, not wanting to justify herself or get trapped in Azula's web.

She stands up and excuses herself from the room.

Ty Lee does not need this.


	6. Chapter Five: Full Trio

**Chapter Five Part I – Zuko  
**

* * *

"I'm taking you to the doctor," Zuko wakes Azula with. She grits her teeth. "I'm sorry I disrupted your beauty sleep, but I'm not letting you control me anymore."

"You can't make me," Azula replies, and Zuko again feels like he is dealing with a small child. She will _have _a small child soon and that absolutely terrifies Zuko to the core. This decision is ridiculous and Zuko knows it is more and more every day. He doesn't know if he wants to take care of that baby.

"Azula, you're having a baby. You're going to the doctor." Zuko has put too much thought and effort into this to stand down.

"We've been through this," Azula snaps and Zuko groans. He massages his temples with his fingers and takes a slow breath. "I don't want to. It's going to come out eventually."

"I don't understand you. Are you punishing yourself or something?" Zuko asks and Azula sits up. "Please come to the doctor. You don't look well and I'm getting worried."

"You aren't my father. Stop acting like it." She looks panicked. Very panicked, but she covers it with anger.

Zuko opens his mouth to say, _Were you in the Spirit World? _but he instead replies, "I act _nothing _like our father. I know you hate being cared for but people care about you and you have to deal with that. Now get dressed or so help me I will take you in your underwear."

"Not my father," Azula mutters but she surrenders. This is a fight Zuko isn't proud to win, but he wins it anyway.

* * *

Zuko finds himself in the healer house, containing doctors, healers, midwifes, and a few others who focus on caring for the sick or wounded. It is nice, nicer than some gross Earth Kingdom hospital. Zuko hates doctors. He also has always hated the stench of burn ointment. It gives him flashbacks to when his face was burned.

"Some painful memories, ZuZu?" Azula asks mockingly, and he is almost glad she is making fun of him. "Want to share and talk about our feelings?"

"Shut up."

Azula laughs softly. Zuko supposes it is better than nothing.

* * *

After a wait, the doctor introduces herself and Zuko smiles at her. A politician's smile. Azula stares at him in awe of it.

"I haven't seen you since you were a little girl," the doctor says.

"I have no recollection of you," Azula replies, crossing her arms. Zuko wonders if that's true.

"You wouldn't, of course," the doctor corrects and Azula tries not to roll her eyes. "How many weeks pregnant are you."

Azula shrugs. "Seven? Hm. Eight? Six?" She gives up. "I saw some doctor about being ill or something and she told me I was knocked up. There."

Zuko's skin crawls. He pretends to cough and keeps it to himself.

"How long ago was that?" The doctor looks nervous and it gives Azula a slight power rush. Nothing compared to making generals sweat, but it feels good regardless.

"A month," Azula says assuredly. The doctor nods and proceeds with the examination.

"Have you been to one of these since mother left?" Zuko asks and Azula wordlessly shakes her head. "Father then? What about when he let your bones break while you were bending?"

"He had people for that." Azula makes it clear she isn't saying more.

Zuko saves his breath.

He knows about what little she gave away at the asylum. And he knows how many skeletons in the closet each and every family member has.

"Why didn't you come to see me earlier?" the doctor inquires as Azula stares at her. It has been uncomfortably silent as the doctor attempted small talk and Azula returned cold hard silence.

"I didn't feel like it. I am royalty and I do as I please," Azula says confidently.

"You're deficient in protein. You're losing muscle mass," the doctor replies and Azula blinks twice.

_That _is not tolerable to Azula and Zuko smirks. He knows very well that the only thing that keeps her from completely losing it is the ability to practice firebending, to lose herself in the cerulean flames. The idea of losing muscle is something that would scare anyone whose life revolves around physical fitness. The doctor could not have said anything better.

Azula clears her throat, averts her eyes and demands, "You can do something about that? Right?"

"You can take supplements. You'll need vitamins anyway. I used to be a doctor in the colonies. Earth Kingdom women lost their babies so often. It's different in Caldera where even the poor are rich."

"I don't give a fuck about Earth Kingdom women."

"I'm trying to tell you that you're less healthy than they were." The doctor quickly cringes as if Azula threw something at her, but the princess's face has not even moved. "I would like to ask you to come see me fairly frequently. This _is _an heir to the Fire Nation."

"My child will never have the throne even if everyone else in succession dies. People would never allow it." Azula's face is flushing and Zuko cannot take his eyes off of it. As her doctor opens her mouth to say more, Azula steps down from the repurposed massage table and walks out of the door.

She grabs Zuko by the elbow, making him yelp in surprise and tugs him towards the door.

"What is it?" Zuko asks, panicked. He does not like the look in Azula's eyes one bit.

"We're leaving and never coming back," she says fiercely.

Zuko thinks he can get her back here, but not now.

* * *

[second trimester]

**Chapter Five Part II - Mai &amp; Ty Lee**

* * *

Azula has entered her second trimester. Very little has changed, to be honest. Their psuedo-family still walks on eggshells. Mai personally has fallen itno the routine. She doesn't mind being back in Caldera, but she _does _mind being forced to deal with Azula more than everyone else. She is thinking about doing _work _to expose or exonerate the princess. It's that bad.

"Get me tea, now," Azula snaps at Mai, who simply sighs.

"I'm not your servant."

"I know, you're my brother's spy."

Mai wants to say _many things_, but she crosses her arms, examines Azula curled in the fetal position on her bathroom floor and decides to go get Azula the tea she demands. She _does _feel bad that Azula is having to deal with this, even if it is her own choice. Even if Azula has not even bothered to apologize for what she did to Mai.

Princess Azula is not the kind of person who can handle a pregnancy well. She is far better suited for battles and negotiations than whatever grotesque things her body is doing to itself.

As Mai walks towards the kitchens to find a servant, she bumps her shoulder into Ty Lee. She stops and stands as Ty Lee's eyes flutter and finally fall on Mai.

Mai waits for her tea and tries not to talk to Ty Lee. But she breaks and winds up asking the bluntest of her questions. "Why are you staying here for nine months?" Mai asks and Ty Lee looks confused. "Go on."

"Because Azula is pregnant and I want to help her," Ty Lee lies with a grin. Mai sees through it like a freshly washed window, but she tolerates her liar friends because she does not have the energy or desire to argue.

"Then go get her tea," Mai says sharply and Ty Lee groans. "You want to help her? She asked for tea."

"Ugh. Fine," Ty Lee agrees, realizing Mai has her by the neck with her lie. The acrobat does not want to divulge why she is actually staying with Azula for this extended period of time, and so she walks to the kitchens as Mai briefly enjoys her freedom.

Ty Lee walks to the kitchens and has a kind conversation with a servant. She is finally handed a cup of Azula's favorite white tea, and she walks through the halls towards Azula's bedroom. Mai almost catching her was quite nasty. She thinks she will have to tread lightly with Azula if she wants to avoid emotional agony.

Because Azula, by definition, _is _emotional agony.

Ty Lee knocks on the door of her room and a defeated voice says, "Took you long enough."

With a sharp breath, a forced smile and a roll of her wide eyes, Ty Lee opens the door and walks inside. Azula is curled up on the clean tile floor of the bathroom, surrounded by dim candles. She must have been in here all night and Ty Lee pities her for a moment.

"Zuko told me your doctor visit didn't go so well." Ty Lee offers the tea to Azula.

"You really know how to start a conversation," Azula spits, accepting it with a rough motion of her hand that nearly knocks Ty Lee off balance, and splashes hot tea on both of their wrists.

Ty Lee blushes. "Have you been taking the supplements she gave you?"

"Ugh. At least fuck me if you want to be so invasive and controlling." Azula is quiet, and Ty Lee realizes she has just remembered herself. The idea that this could be fun crosses Ty Lee's mind. "Yes, I have, but it's not like I can keep them down. She's obviously a fraud."

"Probably," Ty Lee agrees. "I want to apologize for asking you all those invasive questions yesterday. I..." Ty Lee clenches her jaw for a moment. "I was kinda jealous."

"Evidently," Azula says, drawing out the word with pleasure. Ty Lee's eye twitches.

"It's hard to see your ex pregnant. I guess." Ty Lee is quiet as Azula sips her tea and chokes down bile with it. It is a deplorably disgusting mixture. "But you need somebody who knows about this kind of thing. Especially if you're really sick."

"I'm not really sick. I am completely healthy."

"Azula, you're nearly transparent." Ty Lee feels sad. More sad than she was when she lost Azula, because she is worried that she is going to lose Azula again. Maybe she already has.

"Ugh. Is my aura looking sickly? Or is it my nasty _vibes _that give it away?" Azula snaps before coughing and retching. She inhales quickly and prevents herself from vomiting again.

"I'm not going to try to be your parent like Zuko. But I'm not going to just laugh it up with you and sit around like Mai. I'm here whether you like it or not and I will help you no matter how many times you insult me," Ty Lee says tenaciously and Azula's eyes are wide. "You're going to have to try harder than that if you want to get rid of me."

"Wonderful, I'm stuck with you. I don't understand why you don't just date Zuko with your Water Peasant love and your moral compasses. I used to respect you but you lost all of that when you decided to..." Azula stops talking because she winds up vomiting. Ty Lee clenches her jaw for a moment, then slides on her knees and holds Azula's hair above her neck.

She is _going _to rescue Azula if it is the last thing she does. No matter how hard this bitch tries to resist, Ty Lee will win out in the end.

Azula hates to admit how nice Ty Lee's hand feels while it rubs her back.

* * *

Sokka arrives the next day, bearing unbearable news.

And the dance of the Royal Family is disrupted once more.


	7. Chapter Six: Ty Lee

**Chapter Six ─ Ty Lee**

* * *

Ty Lee does not like what she hears from her friend.

"What do you mean she needs her trial?"

"I mean that everyone else has been through one and things will get… sticky? Yeah, sticky is a good word… if she doesn't," Sokka explains but it is _not good enough_.

"Yeah, she's not fit for that," Zuko says, shaking his head.

"I tried." Sokka shrugs and Ty Lee glares.

_"__No you didn't,_" she whispers to herself. Nobody would bother helping Azula. They all want to see her pay just like they always said.

"We need to discuss this. We need a tribunal." Zuko crosses his arms and Sokka thinks about it for a moment. He exhales and Ty Lee chokes a little bit.

"Yeah. That's fair, I guess. We'll do it in three days. That gives everyone enough time," Sokka says and Ty Lee wants to rip Zuko's throat out when he invites Sokka in for lunch.

Ty Lee then feels terrible about how much she loves Azula. She can't love Azula that much. No, no, no she just can't. It wasn't supposed to be this way. Her feelings were not supposed to get involved.

She will lose Azula again.

She doesn't notice the curtains ripple as Azula disappears into the shadowy hall.

…

Ty Lee escorts Azula out on a shopping trip at the request of her conscience.

No one wants to tell Azula about the tribunal going on in two days. It makes Ty Lee nervous, because she is worried about what it will do to her princess's health. The princess has been looking increasingly more sickly, and has been adamantly refusing Zuko taking her to the doctor again. And so Ty Lee has taken it upon herself to clean up royal messes, which seems to be her job for the next nine months, until she can comfortably return to Kyoshi Island, where things make sense.

She used to find Kyoshi Island to be the strange place. The customs were confusing. Agni, the _blankets _might as well have needed an instruction manual. But now she feels out of place in the Fire Nation. So much of it has changed in so little time. It all feels strange to her. And with Azula, stranger still.

"I was thinking lunch first?" Ty Lee suggests hopefully. Getting Azula to eat is step one of her plan. Whether the princess will play along is something else entirely.

"If that's what you want," Azula says halfheartedly and Ty Lee tries not to cringe. The princess being... meek. It seems like an act, but Azula has changed so much that it is difficult to tell. "It's nice spending time with you."

Ty Lee stops in her tracks. The guards around them touch their weapons, but Azula only blinks and stares at Ty Lee.

"You never even said that kind of thing when we were _dating_. Azula, what are you playing?" Ty Lee asks, studying Azula with the eyes of an animal encountering a hunter in the wild.

Azula breathes in for a moment and Ty Lee expects an answer, but she just exhales. "Do you want lunch or not?"

Ty Lee runs her tongue along her teeth as she gazes at Azula. Her powers of perception are nothing compared to the princess, and she never paid much attention to others. Something is incredibly amiss about Azula's carelessness. The way she bends to Zuko without a fight is disturbing at the least.

Likely, Ty Lee thinks it is Azula's survival instincts. Azula is many things, but self-obsessed is her main trait. And she would sacrifice most anything for her own survival. It is one of the things that deteriorated their relationship so severely. And being weak and malleable is one way to ensure Azula is not questioned or tried as a war criminal or tried to be _fixed _again.

Playing the part of the broken little girl... well, that would trick Zuko any day. And Ty Lee wonders if she is simply paranoid, or if she is the only one who can see through the act. Maybe Azula really has fallen this far. That, Ty Lee guesses, frightens her much more than Azula playing everyone until she can strike.

"Is that noodle house place still open?" Ty Lee asks feebly before realizing that Azula has been in Caldera only a month longer than she has.

"Probably." Azula shrugs and Ty Lee feels queasy. Each time she looks at the passive dullness in her gold eyes, Ty Lee worries. And she worries more about her protruding shoulder bones and the way she does not even argue with the guards Zuko has appointed to watch her all the time. More so, she worries that she is still in love with Azula, and not just guilty about her breakdown.

"I overheard you and Mai arguing," Azula says in a voice like fake sugar. "You claimed you were here to _fix me_. To _save _me from myself. It was so melodramatic that it was almost cute."

"Yeah, well, Mai still thinks you're pretending. I still… I'm not totally won over, okay?" Ty Lee says, wringing her hands.

"I'm nonthreatening and you all know that," Azula states coolly.

They arrive at Sri's, the noodle house they used to eat at during the war. It still looks the same, to Ty Lee's relief. She and Azula are taken to a nice table immediately and Ty Lee plays with the curtains on the window; they are the same curtains that were there when she was a child. Even the archaic palace cannot boast that fact.

Ty Lee orders the same food she used to get as a child and feels relieved by it. Azula is not talking, she is playing with the candle at the center of the table, twisting it into different shades of blue and intriguing shapes. Ty Lee is drawn in by it for a moment, captivated.

"You should do something with your bending. Like a job instead of just training," Ty Lee remarks and Azula does not respond at first. "You'd be really good at it."

"I could teach it," Azula says and Ty Lee grins. She thinks Azula might be honest about that. Or at least she hopes that she would. "But you all seem to assume this is incredibly easy for me."

"Most things are," Ty Lee breathes, tapping her foot against the leg of her chair uncomfortably. Azula studies her for a moment, her eyes slightly narrowed.

"I'm well aware," she says, and the waitress interrupts the discomfort by asking for their orders.

Their food arrives and Azula suddenly feels queasy. The smell is awful and she curses the fact that she is knocked up. And even more resents that she is putting _herself _through this torment.

"Please eat," Ty Lee says, her fingers leaving her chopsticks poked into the rice like a Fire Nation flag jabbed onto an Earth Kingdom hill, claiming it.

"I don't want to," Azula says smoothly, purring. Calm. But Ty Lee can see something in her eyes that is the very opposite of calm.

And Ty Lee picks up a vegetable from her noodles and forces it into Azula's mouth before the princess can react. "Eat."

Azula's fingers light up for a moment, but she eats it. "That's it. Don't you dare do that again or I'll be forced to mutilate your pretty face."

_That _is more like the Azula Ty Lee knows. And she is disturbed by how _arousing _she finds the threats. All of these feelings that Ty Lee forgot are resurfacing, and it utterly terrifies her.

The lunch, at the careful moves of Ty Lee, forgets the circumstances surrounding the day out. She makes Azula laugh and it is not high, false and cold. It warms Ty Lee's cheeks as she feels herself getting sucked into Azula's gravitational pull again. And as she is tugged under by the princess, she has no desire to take a breath or try to escape.

After lunch, Ty Lee insists that Azula take her to the pet store. It is cute, but Azula dislikes pets most of the time. Ty Lee is excited about it, glancing at the pets, and then gazing at Azula. The princess is starting to wonder even further what exactly Ty Lee wants from her; she is getting worried.

Ty Lee examines the fish tank in the pet store with great interest. Azula looks bored, flipping through a book on kitten training.

And so Ty Lee makes a move. "If I could be any animal, I would be a fish."

"Why?" Azula asks, narrowing her eyes. It is the first genuine interest she has shown in Ty Lee all day.

"They just swim around and don't care and they're very pretty," Ty Lee replies, shrugging. "And if I could be any flower... sunflower. Definitely a sunflower."

"You repulse me," Azula says casually and Ty Lee comes close to kissing her. Maybe the real Azula can be restored.

"You're not going to respond?" Ty Lee goads, stepping away from the fish and standing beside Azula as she presides over the glossy bookshelf.

"Dragon... and... hm... some sort of cactus," Azula replies honestly and Ty Lee giggles. "What's so funny about my answers?"

"Nothing, they're just... you," Ty Lee says, trying not to let her relief wash into her voice. Knowing Azula would like to be a dragon or a cactus means that Azula is still somewhere in that seemingly hollow shell of a person.

"Would you like one of those fish? I'll buy you one," Azula says and Ty Lee is again concerned. Hopefully Azula is playing her. Hopefully.

"The orange one is nice. He looks happy," Ty Lee says weakly. She keeps analyzing Azula, unsure what she is going to do. This new Azula is strange; she even smells different. It is unnerving.

"Then the orange one it is," Azula purrs and the self important twist of her lips _is _Azula. But the gesture of purchasing Ty Lee a pet is _not_.

"Okay, why are you being nice to me?" Ty Lee snaps, crossing her arms. "You're acting so weird."

Azula chews on her lip. Ty Lee does not expect an answer, but she now notices the torn, bleeding flesh where Azula's teeth are colliding. She is struggling with this persona and Ty Lee realizes it abruptly. Playing them it is.

Ty Lee quickly adds, "I understand what you're doing. Your powers of deception are impressive and you're trying to protect yourself and play a victim. But it's me."

"I don't know who you are anymore, Ty Lee. I haven't known who you are since the Boiling Rock," Azula says sharply, her tone venomous. Her eyes sparkle with malice instead of a dull, tarnished gleam. "Don't pretend to be my friend. If you're trying to _save _me from myself as I heard you telling Mai you intend to do, don't hold your fucking breath."

Ty Lee's eyes flash wide. She is stunned. "I'm not trying to-to _save _you!"

"You need some lessons in lying," Azula says before walking to the counter and purchasing Ty Lee her fish. Azula is _confusing_. It was a quality Ty Lee fell in love with as a dumb adolescent, how one moment she could be about to burn someone alive, then the next picking you flowers, but as an adult, it is terrifying and unsettling.

"Enjoy your pet," Azula breathes and Ty Lee furrows her brow. This is harder than she thought it would be.

It's cold as could be.

As they delve further into the marketplace, Ty Lee decides she will attempt to broach the topic of Azula's pregnancy again. It is risky, yes, but she will do it, so help her. The child is the main reason Ty Lee is trying to shove herself back into Azula's path of destruction again, because... some odd obligation. She does not know.

It is a compulsion. A strange purpose.

But she _will _do it, because Ty Lee has made her mind up. And Ty Lee is now a decisive, empowered adult female who can choose where to live and what to do, even if it kills her. Azula seems yet to have realized that, unless it's part of her facade. Ty Lee is scared of her facade.

"Those kids are cute," Ty Lee remarks as she sees Azula gazing at a little boy and littler girl running around playing with their firebending and anything they grab off of the dirty street. It is the perfect opportunity to discuss the future child of the princess, Ty Lee notes. "They remind me of you and Zuko."

"I sincerely hope I don't have a _me and Zuko_," Azula says, glancing at her abdomen for a moment. She is showing slightly, barely enough to notice. And Ty Lee can see the conflicted feelings in her golden eyes that she tries to hide. "I don't think I have the ability to deal with that."

"Do you have the ability to deal with a child at all?" Ty Lee says before her cheeks turn bright pink. "I'm sorry ─ don't take it that way, princess. I mean, you're good at everything. But I'm just worried that you're not really ready or something and I..." Ty Lee gulps.

"You know, I used to say impossible was just a word for things I haven't tried yet. This pregnancy is threatening to prove me wrong. But you have no need to worry about me. I have made my decision and I do not need other people telling me what to do. I am no one's _belonging_. And I do _not _need to be _fixed_," Azula says sharply and Ty Lee clenches and unclenches her fist repeatedly. Azula looks... pleased. Oh, she is _openly _pleased and Ty Lee clenches her fists so tightly they feel like they are going to pop.

"I'm sorry for saying that, Azula," Ty Lee admits through her clenched jaw, although she is not sorry and Azula knows she is not. "I don't think you need saving."

Azula stops walking and Ty Lee grimaces. The guard again looks nervous.

"Yes, you do. Stop lying to me or go back to your island," Azula says sharply and Ty Lee finds herself missing the strange and uncomfortable Azula who is malleable and meek. "I deserve your respect."

"I know you do," Ty Lee admits feebly. She is extremely frustrated as this is not working in her favor at all whatsoever.

She tries to look for more things to distract Azula and ultimately struggles. She purchases a few things she needs for her extended stay: clothes, a bag. Azula clutches the fish the entire time, examining it closely and watching it swim. Maybe Ty Lee is right, she wonders, and it would be nice to be a fish. Just swimming... not caring... not knowing.

"Look, that place is for sale," Ty Lee says as they pass an ornate red building. "Do you really want to open a Firebending Academy? Because it would go well there."

"It was a casual conversation over lunch. I didn't mean any of it," Azula replies and Ty Lee frowns.

"But do you want to? I know I keep asking... I'm sorry. I'm out of things to say, I guess," Ty Lee says, swallowing. Pressuring Azula is like pressuring a volcano. "I just want... I just want to make your world better. It's not about saving you or making myself feel better. I just... hm."

"I don't think it matters. I'm pretty sure it's Zuko's world now, not mine," Azula says coolly before quickening her pace. Ty Lee supposes, again, she has lost.

Night falls and they are loaded with new belongings. They stop by the pier, looking out at the merchant ships. Azula gazes at the water.

"I haven't left the palace since I came home," Azula admits abruptly. Ty Lee is startled at her openness after avoiding genuine conversation for seven hours. "The outside world is not terrible, I guess. It smells wrong. Does it smell wrong to you?"

Ty Lee pauses for a moment. "Yes. I wonder what changed."

"Did you miss me?" Azula asks and she sounds like she already knows the answer. Or maybe she just assumes it.

"I thought about you nonstop. I thought you'd show up at any moment. I really did. I thought about you nonstop," Ty Lee whispers as she gazes at the ripples in the water. "You're different."

"Good different?" Azula asks.

"You ever hear all the stories about that spirit who steals faces? Koh or something."

"No. Maybe. Yes, I suppose I've heard it referenced."

"Oh. I feel like you got body-snatched. Not a different face or a gone one. But like there's a spirit out there who steals souls and puts the wrong one inside," Ty Lee says and Azula shakes her head and rolls her eyes. "Zuko says you disappeared into the Spirit World more than once when Jun was chasing you."

"Stop talking. Kiss me."

Oddly, Ty Lee's lips move towards Azula's before her brain remembers why that is a bad idea. But the water is beautiful, glittering beneath the rising, pale, paper-white moon. The guards are twitching anxiously and Azula takes that as a sign that she has to go home. It _would _be like Zuko to impose a curfew on her without mentioning it, to try to absolve himself of any blame.

"Let's get back to the palace. Today has been terrible and I want to go home," Azula says, handing Ty Lee her fish. Today has _not _been terrible, but there is no way Azula is going to tell Ty Lee that.

"Okay," Ty Lee agrees so amicably that Azula wants to shove her into the ocean.

Ty Lee stares at Azula for a moment, and then looks to her fish.

These feelings are getting too confusing, and Ty Lee is struggling to fight them.

* * *

They arrive back at the palace and find the halls, rooms and corridors completely silent. They are alone and Azula sits down on a sofa, curled into a ball. She feels exhausted, much more tired than she thought she was. Ty Lee keeps forcing her to eat and she thinks it's making improvements but she doesn't really know.

"How are you doing?" Ty Lee asks and Azula does not respond. "Don't do that."

"Don't tell me what to do. If you want to gain my trust, you best start treating me like you did before... before." Azula does not necessary want to say it. Ty Lee does not blame her.

"Before, yes," Ty Lee says, knowing what she means. Before her breakdown. Ty Lee suddenly is stricken by the fact that this ruse is not hard for Azula. This is how people _want _her to behave. They want her to be broken, shattered and their image of her after she lost her mind.

That shifts something inside of Ty Lee. Pity. She never thought she would _pity _Azula, even after everything that happened to her. Even when she saw the scars of abuse or the way she was so cruel and her view of the world was in such a harsh, calculated, clinical black and white. Never once did Ty Lee pity Azula, because she _loved _Azula, and she knew the princess would never stand for that.

But now she looks at her, curled on the sofa with her knees nearly touching her chin, her legs over a baby bump she has for some reason Ty Lee cannot fathom.

Guilt, pity, remorse, faded love.

Those are the feelings Ty Lee cannot shake.

"I'm going to go set up my fish tank," Ty Lee says, excusing herself. There are so many things she wants to say to Azula. And even more places she wants to kiss her and now she is doubly confused.

The instability of their relationship never changes. But now it seems harsher, because Ty Lee has been without her for so long. What was normal to a young Ty Lee is strange and frightening to an adult Ty Lee. Why she desires it? Well, that is baffling.

She sets up her fish in its new home and watches it swim.

That night she thinks long and hard about where she wants her relationship with Azula to go.

And by the time she falls asleep, she has no conclusion.

She dreams about Azula that night. It is not the sweet kind.


	8. Chapter Seven: Ty Lee

**Chapter Seven - Ty Lee**

* * *

Ty Lee is interrupted while feeding her fish by someone walking into her room uninvited. She glances up, setting aside the small crystal jar of food for him. It is Azula, looking more radiant than usual, somehow.

"So, that Fire Days Festival, do you have a date? It's on the night that they decide if I get strung up or not, so I figure I might as well celebrate while I can," Azula purrs and Ty Lee narrows her eyes. The princess's strange behavior is only getting stranger, and Ty Lee is beginning to worry. And beginning to worry even more about how she is starting to fall for Azula again, starting to appreciate her new smell, starting to want to have a part in Azula's future.

"Not that I know of. I don't really know too many people in the Fire Nation anymore," Ty Lee says before realizing that Azula is asking her to be her date. "I would be honored to be your date. A friends date. Platonically."

She fears she protests too much and Azula will see right through her, but such is life. Azula smirks faintly and disappears down the hall, ready to gather servants to wash her hair and prepare her to be undeniably beautiful for the festival; it is her first true one since running away years ago, and now she is about to enjoy it again.

_The distinct lack of booze, however, will not be pleasant._

"Cover up the bump, will you?" Azula demands of the woman picking out Azula's dress as she leans back, dipped into the water as combs gently move through her hair. When Mai first brought her back to the palace, there were so many tangles that one of the servants burst into hysterical tears.

A make-up artist gently descends upon Azula, slipping the paints and oils over her face. Ty Lee clasps her hands together because Azula will be perfect. Princess Azula will not look like the sallow, half-dead pregnant woman with dark circles under her eyes and madness behind them.

And when she is finished, Ty Lee cannot take her eyes off of the princess.

Azula is not beautiful. She is not _pretty_.

She is as radiant as the sun.


	9. Chapter Eight: Full Trio

**Chapter Eight ─ Full Trio**

* * *

"I'm bringing, uh, a date, actually," Mai stammers as Ty Lee and Azula greet each other. Zuko's jaw drops, stunned.

He knows that he and Mai are not together yet, but he expected her to at least be his _friends _date. Agni, he should have arranged for someone so he would not look like such a fool. He probably should not think about their relationship in terms of _yet_.

Azula and Ty Lee look each other up and down, both engrossed in the beauty in front of them. Zuko thinks it is super disgusting that their eyes cannot part from each other and Mai watches with a small smirk, knowing where this will end up by sunrise. Perhaps even before the fireworks end, Azula and Ty Lee will be a couple again.

_Mai knows it._

"So, who's your date?" Zuko asks hesitantly, examining Mai and wondering why she has not mentioned a partner of any kind.

"Funny story, I met her when I was on my way to the palace to see Azula for the first time," Mai says and Zuko feels as if it is eerily familiar. "She stayed in the Fire Nation because the money was good. Or maybe the bars were good? Spirits if I know. Anyway, it's not serious... we just hooked up once or twice, or whatever."

The dry monotone of Mai's voice is in direct contrast of Zuko's gaping jaw. He did not... the thought of Mai hooking up with anyone but him is terrifying.

_There was Suki_, Zuko thinks before regretting it. He did sleep with her one night and then a handful of the girls who gather outside of the palace squealing about their hot Fire Lord. So he has no right to be jealous of Mai, even though he has seething envy within him.

"Oh, there she is," Mai says, waving as the woman enters the palace.

Azula looks her up and down in approval and mild, complex arousal. Ty Lee grits her teeth and Mai's observation of their love rekindling is confirmed yet again.

"So the rich bounty hunter who doesn't do it for the money got me royal front seats to the Fire Days Festival," Jun says as Zuko's lips part in surprise. "Good to see you again, Fire Lord Zuko." He is not sure if Jun is mocking him or not. "And _you_," Jun says, turning to Azula. She sighs. "I can't believe you haven't killed Zuko yet. You look super pregnant so congratulations on the glorified parasite that will grow up to hate you."

Azula looks down at her abdomen. Zuko hopes she doesn't freak out. Freaking out would be bad.

Mai and Jun look at each other and share a kiss that is certainly not romantically, and has more sparks and charge than Azula's lightning, and is almost as sexy. Ty Lee just shrugs when Azula turns to her, and the princess and her acrobat depart the palace, leaving the awkward threesome of Mai, Jun and Zuko behind.

* * *

"I was _going _to ask Mai out tonight," Zuko grumbles with a small frown. Ty Lee grins at him, and he realizes she is probably the only person who would react to that with excitement.

Mai and Jun decided to go to the nearest bar, which Zuko could not imagine Mai doing when they were together. He wonders if she has had anyone, but Ty Lee is well aware that Mai has had a circus in her bedroom over the past two years, and Jun is just a fling that is making Mai do weird things for a few months.

Even Aang, who is supportive of any kind of love, told Zuko perhaps he should move past Mai. But she makes him happy, she does. Or he thinks she does, at least.

"There's still hope you know? That Jun girl is just a fling and Mai has had like a _billion _of those since she broke up with you," Ty Lee says blithely with a dismissive wave of her hand. "And the reason her flings are with absolute crazy people who will never work out is because she's still _so _into you."

"Really?" Zuko asks, stunned.

Azula grimaces and Ty Lee takes her attention away from Zuko. She can _feel _the glare on her.

"Stop looking at those boys," Azula says and Ty Lee cocks her head to the side. Azula then seizes Ty Lee by the waist, an action Ty Lee wishes Azula had performed long, long ago. Azula presses her lips fiercely against Ty Lee's neck and pulls her away from Zuko, the acrobat confused by how _sexy _this is, but also livid at Azula doing it without her consent. It's complicated. The past few months have been complicated.

"That was a boring conversation," Azula sighs as Ty Lee breaks away from her. They are apart for a moment before Ty Lee decides to hold Azula's hand. "Do you want lava cake?"

"Maybe."

"Allow me to rephrase. I _need lava cake_," Azula says, as if lava cake as the throne of the Fire Nation. Oh, and there are nails digging into Ty Lee's wrist.

"I'm taking you to the lava cake. Calm down," Ty Lee whispers.

"You calm down. I am completely calm. I just want lava cake and I think it's absurd that there isn't a stand nearby!" Azula snarls.

Ty Lee flinches at Azula shouting her demand, when she has been so muted of late, even when ordering around servants. Ty Lee stands up on her toes and locks her eyes on a street lined with sweets vendors.

"I'm going to get a lava cake as _big as my face_," Ty Lee says fiercely, her eyes lighting up at the sweets vendors. "_As big as my face_. They don't have things like this in the Earth Kingdom."

"You don't belong with those peasants," Azula purrs as she follows Ty Lee to the vendor. And then Azula steadies herself on Ty Lee as she gags and Ty Lee considers smashing the fried dough cart. Thankfully, Azula keeps silent as Ty Lee orders a lava cake and taps her feet impatiently as she waits for it.

Ty Lee takes a huge bite of chocolate and contemplates Azula's words. It _is _true that she never quite fit in, given how indoctrinated into the Fire Nation she had been. But Ty Lee is flexible and able to mold herself into most situations. She did not have as much trouble on Kyoshi Island as she thought she would.

And as she looks around at the Fire Days Festival, she thinks that now the _Fire Nation _is where she does not fit in.

But, she notes, she does like spending time with Azula. It's madness, really, genuine madness to be hooked on Azula again, and it probably is going to be about as successful as Mai and Jun. But Ty Lee eats her lava cake and sees a small smudge on Azula's face.

She hesitates for a moment before licking it off of Azula's lips, making the princess's golden eyes flash. A second bold move that both of them try to ignore, and Ty Lee wonders why they so desperately want to deny their feelings. Perhaps because they have grown so fast, like a dust storm in the Si Wong Desert.

"I'm sorry," Ty Lee murmurs, shifting her weight from foot to foot.

"Let's find a bathroom," Azula replies, not wanting to discuss she and Ty Lee's relationship.

Azula is a person who operates with objectives and goals, and does best when she is doing so. And her current objective is to be as nonthreatening as possible while pretending to play along with Zuko's fantasy of redeeming her. And falling in love with Ty Lee again, if you can even call it love, is too much of a risk.

Ty Lee knows that too well.

Azula locates a bathroom and slips inside, Ty Lee following her. After Azula washes her hands, Ty Lee examining herself in the mirror to her great pleasure, Ty Lee reclaims Azula's fingers, intertwining them with hers.

A couple who came in just after them, two women who have not stopped making out like eel sharks, wink at Azula and Ty Lee.

"We're not a couple," Azula snaps, but it is too late, and her comment only results in Ty Lee's cheeks flushing bright red.

The acrobat and princess exchange a glance, and walk back out into the Fire Days Festival.

* * *

Ty Lee and Azula are out on their own, and Ty Lee buys Azula a cinnamon pop. The princess licks and sucks on it and Ty Lee immediately regrets her purchase when she feels a surge of heat where she absolutely does not want it. She stares at Azula and the princess notices, before smirking quite wickedly and making her casual eating of the hard candy into something overtly sexual.

Before Ty Lee can say anything, blurt out her strange, sudden feelings for her old flame, Mai, Jun and Zuko show up. Mai and Jun are holding containers of liquor that are probably enough to kill an elephant koi, and Mai seems to be pretending to drink hers when Jun is looking, which Zuko is too oblivious to notice, much to Ty Lee's dismay.

Azula is sucking on her cinnamon pop and laughing with Ty Lee, Mai and Zuko. They feel united for the first time since that night in the beach, which might as well have been millennia before. Cracking jokes about sex and Ty Lee wraps her arm around Azula's waist.

Ty Lee can only feel surges of pleasure and happiness. It makes her hate herself in a way, because she promised she would never do love again. Or at least until Azula gives birth to her baby and the pregnancy hormones go away.

"I have to go get water. The cinnamon burned!" Ty Lee says brightly, leaving Azula beside her. Mai and Zuko have just taken off to head in the direction of where Zuko is to make his address, to bless the coming year, the Fire Spirits meant to listen to him. "Can you wait for me?"

"Of course," Azula breathes, standing back.

Azula lingers for a moment, looking at the people in spirit masks around her. The couples, the families, the people who have others who love them unconditionally. Zuko feels pained by it, and he wonders if his sister does too.

Suddenly, Azula stumbles. Her eyes are… gone. She is gone. She is on her knees and Zuko is trying to reach for her because she murmurs something about _ashes_.

Ty Lee has grabbed her arm first, before the Fire Lord could. Azula still stares at the ground, as if she inhabits another world. A tortured world. Zuko feels sick; he has seen her like that before. "You dropped your cinnamon pop," Ty Lee remarks calmly and Azula swallows the lump in her throat. And then Ty Lee looks Azula up and down, analyzing her. "Is something wrong?"

"Let's go somewhere quieter," Azula murmurs, tugging Ty Lee away from the crowded streets, beneath the strings of lanterns and past the carnival games. Zuko gazes after them, forlorn.

Ty Lee follows Azula, feeling concerned for her the entire way. They climb up the side of the hill, Ty Lee worried about the baby when Azula does it, but too afraid to speak up. The princess is clearly upset about something, and Ty Lee has no idea what.

The Fire Days Festival is always fun, not... whatever this is.

Azula lies down in a clearing with a view of the fireworks and the glowing city. The pier is lit up magnificently in the dark night as the Fire Nation drops everything and celebrates.

"And everyone is going to decide if I live or die in a few hours."

"You get a trial."

"The trial will be rigged in the direction the tribunal decides on."

"Talk to Zuko."

"Oh, he'll vouch for me. I don't know if he'll be enough."

"Are you okay? You don't seem so worried about that tribunal." Ty Lee asks, although she doubts she will get a straight answer.

Princess Azula just shrugs and squints at the stars. Fireworks go off and the loud bangs make her tremble slightly, although she cannot explain why.

Ty Lee hesitantly touches her hand, unsure what else to do. She has put so much thought into why she does _not _desire a relationship with Azula, but when she looks at the princess, she can only remember how she loved her once and how she loves her still, despite all that has come between them.

"Sometimes I just wish I was dead. These past few days I've often hoped that they decide to execute me," Azula whispers, staring up at the moon and how it is blacked out by smog and overshadowed by fireworks. "I wish I was dead and this baby was too."

Ty Lee does not know what to say to that, rubbing her lips with her finger and staring at the tears rolling from the princess's eyes and dripping to the grass beneath her slender neck.

Azula continues, "I don't know how I can raise this child when I can barely take care of myself. Maybe I should... maybe I should just go back to the asylum."

And Ty Lee is silent. Azula does not want the silence and she sits up in rage, burning the dry grass around her to a violent crisp. The flames lick near Ty Lee's skin, but none of it touches her. Azula still has some control, and that puts Ty Lee at a slight ease.

Azula walks away, in the opposite direction of the festival. Ty Lee swallows and follows her, although she knows she is causing more of a mess than cleaning one up. She chases after Azula as she moves through the shadows.

Ty Lee stops, gasping for breath, as she looks at Azula staring at the city from a perch on the caldera. The city that she loves, the city that she grew up in, and the city that has scorned her. The one she keeps imagining burning to ash, burning because of her, because of a fire she incited.

"Why do you say that?" Ty Lee whispers, her heart pounding. She thinks of how she told herself she should visit Azula, again and again. When Suki went to protect Zuko... or something. She should have told Azula how she felt and apologized, even though she supposes that she did nothing wrong.

Azula rubs her lips together. "I know I shouldn't be honest with you. And don't think I trust you for a second. But I'm... pretty much a mess. Every time the fetus moves I get close to panic attacks... I still have hallucinations sometimes. I don't know who I'm kidding trying to restore myself to my former glory when I can barely get out of bed some days."

Ty Lee pauses for a moment, breathing in deeply. Azula feels a hot surge of regret that burns like blue flame when she realizes she should not have told Ty Lee that.

But the acrobat gently caresses the princess's face and murmurs, "You have me... not just nine months. Azula, you can have me until the end of time, and I will make sure you always have someone to wake you up from your nightmares."

Azula hesitates, finding this a combination of risky, mushy, unlike the powerful self she longs to be after so long playing weak, and also, she is sure Ty Lee's promise of forever has many conditions.

But she feels spontaneous tonight after being aglow at the festival, surrounded by cheer and passion, fire burning bright. It made her want to light the fire dying within herself that she does not bother to tend.

And so she kisses Ty Lee with all of the passion she has in herself.

They sink into each other, and make love beneath the fireworks.

Azula's life is not perfect. She's flawed. But Ty Lee wants her so bad.

Ty Lee missed so many years they could have had together.

Azula is Ty Lee's sun and stars, and Ty Lee will never let the tribunal take her away.

* * *

A/N: So that's the end of the rewrites. There will be another chapter in a couple hours!


	10. Chapter Nine: Zuko & Ty Lee

**Chapter Nine – Zuko &amp; Ty Lee**

* * *

"She's pregnant. She's not lying about it," Zuko says for the _tenth _time. For some inexplicable reason, no one here seems to believe a girl who is visibly seven months in. He supposes Azula's past hasn't done her credibility any favors. "You have to wait until she has the baby. Then you can swoop in like komodo vultures."

The friends and not-so-friends looking to him do not seem enthused. Zuko doesn't get it.

No, no, he does get it. It felt from the first moment like Azula was using the baby as an unborn human shield. Zuko started to relax about it as time passed, but he can understand why everyone is doubtful.

"She's mentally fit for a trial if she's mentally fit to have a baby and be loose in your house," Suki says coldly and Zuko clenches his jaw.

They all agree with her over him.

He doesn't blame them.

"When?" he asks quietly, slipping out of the power position he was holding.

"We voted on next week," replies the head of the Kyoshi Warriors and an important ambassador – two titles that mean arguing with her will be difficult. The third title is his close friend – which is somehow even harder to fight against.

"I'll tell her." He stands.

* * *

Ty Lee is worried. She is now less frightened of the trial in five days and more frightened of the princess. Azula is cracking very slowly, but it is becoming visible the closer the two of them become.

But the thick of it starts when Azula is thrown into such a panic that she rises from bed and runs towards the door. Ty Lee had been keeping guard of the princess, as everyone close to Zuko was, and she is so glad it happens on her shift.

Because the princess breaks the door open, leaving her knee bloodied, and flies towards the exit.

"Where are you running to?" Ty Lee shouts before realizing she should probably keep quiet. "_Azula_!"

The princess stops, Ty Lee stops pursuing her. Azula's hands rest on the door and she has a look of realization on her face.

"I can't get out, can I?" she whispers and Ty Lee swallows. Her throat feels scratchy and dry from the nerves she has been stuck with all night. "I can't get _it _out, can I?"

Ty Lee realizes something bad. Azula is talking about her baby.

That complicates everything. Azula has had panic attacks in front of Ty Lee over the past months and when they were young too. But if this one was triggered by the baby inside of her, Ty Lee just won't know what to do.

"I had a dream about dragons and spirits." Azula doesn't clarify and Ty Lee doesn't ask. "I can't breathe. I can't breathe, Ty Lee. Take care of me. Fix me. Get it out of me. I can't breathe."

Ty Lee tries to keep calm, soft and slow, like she is interacting with a terrifying monster. It always makes her feel bad that she has to be like that, but she does and there is no changing it. Or, at least, if there is a way, Ty Lee has not found it yet.

"I can't take it out of you."

"Then get away from me!" Azula thrusts both hands forward and Ty Lee barely dodges the fire in time. Azula breaks open the door barricading her from the outside, keeping her in her prison under the orders of _everyone ever_.

Ty Lee has no choice but to follow her. She has to get her back inside before anyone sees.

Azula doesn't run, thankfully. She sits down on a bench and tries to catch her breath to no avail. The stars are somewhat pretty tonight, Ty Lee notices, but the princess is staring at her feet.

"I'm sorry you feel trapped."

"I _am _trapped. I would to gnaw my leg off to get free."

"Please don't do that. You're just scared," Ty Lee whispers.

She sits down.

She stays with the princess.

There is no other choice.

There never has been another choice.

* * *

After the incident with Azula breaking down two doors and sitting in silence for three hours, Ty Lee wars with herself nightly about whether she should go check on Azula or not. Azula's reaction is impossible to gauge, but it probably would not be good. The princess is only the type of crazy that protects her; she is the type of crazy that hurts her and Ty Lee doesn't know what to do to stop that hurt.

She gives in on the fifth night, because hearing Azula in so much pain is just too much for Ty Lee to bear. The Kyoshi Warrior forces herself out of bed, her feet dragging and her eyelids drooping, as she fumbles through the dark hallway and twists the knob of Azula's door.

_Locked_. Of course. "Azula," Ty Lee hisses, knocking gently. The silence inside is somewhat disconcerting, and Ty Lee knocks louder. She still receives no response. Ty Lee pounds viciously on the door. "Azula!"

It is then that she can no longer be polite, because the panic is surging within her. Adrenaline coursing through her veins, Ty Lee punches open the locked door, leaving it in sad ruins, and she forces her way inside. Azula is lying, twisted in her bed, her hands resting on the very small bump protruding from her lower belly.

"Azula, are you okay?" Ty Lee dares to ask, and she gets no answer.

_Spirits_, Ty Lee does not understand why life enjoys punching her repeatedly so much. There are three days until Azula will be tried for _war crimes_. Azula could speak so well, save herself with words, but not when she is this fucked up.

How could anyone think she is okay enough to stand trial?

"Azula," Ty Lee says again. She realizes she had not said Azula's name in a very, very long time before she got the letter and came to stay until the baby was born. It is a very pretty name, and Ty Lee likes how it rolls from her tongue. "Azula... Azula, please. Is it you? Is it the baby? What is it?"

The utter silence is disconcerting. The way Azula is not saying something cruel or hurtful, or isn't at least looking at Ty Lee.

Ty Lee does not know what the intruders used to chi-block the royals. Maybe there are aftereffects. And so Ty Lee takes her, very gently, and tries to help her lie down. But then there is screaming, screaming like Ty Lee has never heard. The footsteps pounding through the hallway as Azula just does not stop, does not _stop _screaming, are drowned out.

Until Zuko is inside, only in underwear, his hair down and messy. Ty Lee looks up at him and neither of them care about his partial nudity, because although Azula has stopped screaming, it is very, very clear that she is no longer there.

"What happened?" Zuko demands coarsely.

Ty Lee just shakes her head. Azula's breathing is strange, rattling as if she is in a fight, although Zuko cannot remember a time Azula was winded, save for perhaps her final battle with Katara. He moves to her and she moves, her fingernails clawing at his face and causing him to recoil.

"You're upsetting her," Ty Lee whispers, as if that is not painfully evident already.

Zuko steps back slowly, unsure what to do. He is already agonized over the deliberations about his sister's life. Azula... Azula sick... the pregnancy is struggle enough for the Fire Lord to keep in mind when he is more worried about her imminent _trial_.

"I want it out of me," Azula says perfectly clearly, perfectly lucidly. "Please."

"Azul... I don't get it. You were so excited," Ty Lee whispers, having never been this scared in her life. _Where is Mai? Where is that bitch right now?_

"I want it out of me. Now."

Ty Lee and Zuko are silent and breathless.

Two mornings before the trial, "Will you talk to me?" Ty Lee begs, although she doubts Azula will respond. The princess kind of just glares and lies there and sort of sighs when Ty Lee attempts to do anything. She is pretty sedated.

Doctors, doctors Azula is very likely not keen on dealing with. Dressed in light reds, making Ty Lee uncomfortable as she tries to force the memories out of her mind. They must be worse for Azula.

"Don't pressure her," says the woman who is clearly in charge. She has been rolling her eyes at Ty Lee for an hour. "It won't do any good."

"You won't take her away." Ty Lee is not asking; she is telling.

"No, I have no intentions of doing that if the Fire Lord does not order it," says the woman as if this is so mundane. Ty Lee wants to murder her. She wants to rip her limb from limb and has no regrets about her violent thoughts.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Ty Lee shouts the second question before remembering herself and murmuring hasty apologies. Azula is still, curled on a chaise lounge in the palace, completely silent and not fighting against the drugs in her veins at all.

She seems to be perfectly fine with being incapacitated, which has never been a characteristic of the princess, even at her worst.

Ty Lee has seen her thousand-yard stare plenty of times. Azula was never mentally fit in the first place, and it only progressed with age before she snapped.

(Before Ty Lee made her snap. Agni, Spirits, oh...)

But she is just gone. Just gone. And the only thing she has said in nearly two days was the demand to remove the child. She can't... want that, can she? Ty Lee does not...

"Stay with her, if you can," the doctor instructs, as if Ty Lee would ever do anything _but _stay with Azula. "She seems comforted by you."

Ty Lee is pretty certain the doctor is lying to keep Ty Lee from going off the walls.

But she gently takes Azula's hand and hopes that it will do _something_.


End file.
